
New cases of cancer are expected to reach 3.4 million in 2040 in Europe
Projections by the European Commission – Joint Research Centre from Ispra, Italy, estimate a 21.4% increase in cancer cases in 20 years’ time

Novel concepts on the horizon for the diagnosis and treatment of mesothelioma
Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare and fatal disease with very little improvement in survival in recent years, mirroring very limited therapeutic advances. After a long-awaited time, improvement in patient survival was achieved with the introduction of nivolumab plus ipilimumab in the first-line setting, as demonstrated in the CheckMate 743 trial.

Molecular profiling holds promise to speed up drug development in rare tumours
Findings from several studies highlight the increasing utility of this approach to identify druggable genetic alterations

Adequate antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in patients on chemotherapy or immunotherapy
Most, but not all, patients on chemotherapy or immunotherapy for solid tumours had an adequate immune response after two doses of mRNA-1273 vaccination, with no new safety concerns

Immuno-oncology score predicts response to atezolizumab in TNBC
In the NeoTRIPaPDL1 study, combining information from biomarker analysis at baseline and during treatment was informative on clinical benefit

Multidisciplinary tumour board: poor concordance for tumours with low levels of evidence
A Japanese study reports discrepancies among centres, highlighting the need for better strategies to improve the quality of treatment recommendations

Rare tumours make it to a Presidential Symposium
Rare tumours have been neglected for decades, with lack of funding, lack of research and lack of visibility. It is encouraging to see how this is changing and how research in rare tumours is not only taking place, but also being highlighted in Presidential Symposium 3 at this year’s ESMO Congress.

Can DNA methylation improve prognostic models for glioma?
Results show it may help to define more homogeneous subgroups of patients with grade II–III glioma for more timely and effective cancer care

New drugs for an old target: oral SERDs are active in ER+/HER2– breast cancer
Phase I/II trials also show these compounds have more convenient dosing and are well tolerated in both the early and advanced settings

Adjuvant atezolizumab lowers relapse rate in resected NSCLC
An exploratory analysis from the IMpower010 trial adds support to the use of post-chemotherapy adjuvant immunotherapy for selected early stage non-small-cell lung cancer